Introduction:
Grimm Fairy Tales is a popular genre to children and society. The stories and remakes of the fairy tales are the basis of the original. Grimm Fairy tales include Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Ariel, Rapunzel and many others. The story usually includes a curse, a fairy or magic, a prince saving the princess and a moral. Fairy tales have a huge impact on pop culture and how children and young adults perceive reality and love.
For English class, we are presenting a research paper based on fairy tales, folktales, or fables. Over the course of six months in English class we have been studying stories, and have looked at the Canterbury Tales, etc. These stories are passed down from generation to generation and give us stories of courage and love. These stories are part of my childhood. Fairytales give me a sense of empowerment and hope for the future. The stories mold my imagination and resiliency to who I am today.
The Search:
The mission to write a research paper on the basis of my childhood began. As I was walking towards the school library, different ideas of what stories to find, what I wanted to focus on my research paper popped into my head. I became frustrated because of the vast amount of fairytales; I wanted to focus on five important fairytales. Mr. Boardman gave us a week to research our topics. You would think that would be enough, but once you started becoming more involved in the research and learning things you’ve never realized you don’t want to stop researching. I began to enjoy looking up theories and meanings of the different fairytales. One website shared the origins of fairytales. It gave insight on how each person in history transformed the fairytale from more childlike to complex. Ea...
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Ruth B Buttingheimer [article taken from http://www.faqs.org/childhood/co.Fa/fairty-tales-and- fables.html]Title of Web: Encyclopedia of children and childhood in history and society publishing info: copyright @ 2008 – Advances Inc
Tangled. Dir Nathan Greeno and Bryan Howard. Perf. Many Moore and Zachaary Levi,
Walt Disney.
Fairy tales connect to our owns lives, dreams, anxieties, and help us to consider what we would do in their shoes. Many cultures have their own spin on common fairy tales like Sleeping Beauty, with their own cultural flavor. We read those versions and know that we share something important and the hope for good to overcome evil.
A fairytale is a fictional fantasy fable that passes through generations of children as source of interest to them. Though used for the intent of entertainment, fairytales often indirectly advocate a moral or message to readers (whom are usually children), in hopes that they will grow up to apply these ethics and lead a righteous life. This criteria, however, often originates from the occurrence of a magical transformation; it is this paranormality that introduces the characters of the story to a side of life far from what they have grown to know and learn to adapt to the dramatic amend in their life. This is evident in the characters in world-renowned tales such as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.
Tatar, Maria. Off with Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992. Print.
At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about “[expanding] imagination” and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world.
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Rapunzel.” Folk and Fairy Tales. Ed. Martin Hallett and Barbara Karasek. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 2002. 67-70.
Fairy tales portray wonderful, elaborate, and colorful worlds as well as chilling, frightening, dark worlds in which ugly beasts are transformed into princes and evil persons are turned to stones and good persons back to flesh (Guroian). Fairytales have long been a part of our world and have taken several forms ranging from simple bedtime stories to intricate plays, musicals, and movies. However, these seemingly simple stories are about much more than pixie dust and poisoned apples. One could compare fairytales to the new Chef Boyardee; Chef Boyardee hides vegetables in its ravioli while fairytales hide society’s morals and many life lessons in these outwardly simple children stories. Because of this fairytales have long been instruments used to instruct children on the morals of their culture. They use stories to teach children that the rude and cruel do not succeed in life in the long run. They teach children that they should strive to be kind, caring, and giving like the longsuffering protagonists of the fairytale stories. Also, they teach that good does ultimately defeat evil. Fairy tales are not just simple bedtime stories; they have long been introducing cultural moral values into young children.
Hansjorg, Hohr, (2000). Dynamic Aspects of Fairy Tales: social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 44, No 1, Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
When the word “fairytale” is mentioned, nearly everyone thinks of light-hearted stories with friendly characters and happy endings. However, these are not the ideas that classic fairytales originally sparked. In fact, numerous modern Disney movies were based off stories that were not so sugar coated. In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm were responsible for multiple of these popular children’s tales. The Disney remakes of classic fairytales such as Cinderella, Tangled, and Snow White exclude the dark, twisted themes that are significant in the Brothers Grimm fairytales, because society tendencies continue to evolve toward sheltering and overprotecting young children.
When the French took over Germany under Napoleon’s leadership, Jacob and Wilhelm increased their studies. They gathered fairy tales because they hoped no one would forget German culture (Hettinga pg.66). The fairy tales the Brothers Grimm wrote are tales that other people told them (Hettinga). Some of the tales that the Brothers Grimm wrote are very grim! There is one story about these kids who were killing pigs, but they were not careful and they ended up killing each other. This is one of the reasons parents did not think the Brothers Grimm fairy tales were suitable for their kids (Hettinga pg.78). The Brothers Grimm fairytales have been changed over time, in different countries. In Cinderella the glass slippers have been changed into different material like leather instead of glass (Hettinga pg.X). The Brothers Grimm asked all their friends to collect stories or phrases from anyone who might of happened to have one (Hettinga pg.). Another scholar was collecting tales at the same time as the Brothers Grimm. He asked them if he could borrow their manuscript. Fortunately they copied it down by hand because he never gave it back (Hettinga pg. 73+74).
..., Maria. “An Introduction to Fairy Tales.” Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. Ed. Laurence Behrens, Leonard J. Rosen. Toronto: Longman, 2013. 230-235. Print.
While fairy tales are entertaining stories and can be used to educate children of the normal social manners of reality; however, it can be used to entertain and educate people of all ages. It can be used as a method of escaping the real world or to teach valuable life lessons than just the normal social mannerisms of society.
A fairy tale is more than just a story. It is a fun way of teaching children and adults important morals and values. Fairy tales open minds to right and wrong through inspiring and captivating events. Instilling fundamental principles in children while young, promotes societies with stronger ethic systems. These fairy tales are then passed down to the younger generation to ensure that these important morals and values live on.
I chose to research the genre of fairytales because the genre retold by Grimm’s caught my attention. Fairytales in modern day usually have a happy ending after the good versus evil concept. Rapunzel specifically, isn’t told in its original form.Theres much more darkness and even though happily ever after is in play, not all fairytales end that way. Fairytales have much more depth than people realize in modern day. It portrays the real struggles we face growing up. In Rapunzel, her mother gave her away and she was raised by an enchantress who locked her away. This very much explains child abandonment or a child that has been given up for adoption and the things they face growing up.Theres a connection between these fairytales and real life situations .Fairytales have a way of expressing real life situations in a way that uses a few elements that help tell the story in a way children can understand. Some of the elements include: magic, morals, royalty and love.
“The fairy tale, which to this day is the first tutor of children because it was once the first tutor of mankind, secretly lives on in the story. The first true storyteller is, and will continue to be, the teller of fairy tales. Whenever good counsel was at a premium, the fairy tale had it, and where the need was greatest, its aid was nearest. This need was created by myth. The fairy tale tells us of the earliest arrangements that mankind made to shake off the nightmare which myth had placed upon its chest.”(Walter Benjamin). For generations fairy tales have brought happiness to hundreds of people. Through childhood to adults, people still enjoy the mysteries of fairytales. In society, fairytales are a great way of connecting
...s, J (1988) a scary thought considering that most of us believe that these Fairy Tales are wholesome moral messages crucial for a child’s development. Which brings me to my next point.